Watermelons: how to grow a good harvest

Contents

Growing watermelons
Planting watermelons
Care of watermelons in the open field
Harvesting watermelons
Watermelon storage rules
Popular questions and answers

Watermelon is a desirable vegetable in every garden, but this southern culture loves warmth, and not everyone manages to grow it in the middle lane, and even more so in the northern regions. But everything is possible! Let’s find out all the tricks of agricultural technology

This plant from the gourd family comes from the desert regions of South Africa. Wild watermelons are found there to this day, forming extensive thickets, but they are very different from their varietal descendants – their fruits are the size of a tennis ball. And they ripen for a very long time – for six months. When they are fully ripe, the stalk with which the fruit is attached to the whip dries up, the watermelons come off, and, driven by the wind, roll for many kilometers across the desert in a race with each other. This is a very spectacular show! But sooner or later, a stone comes across on their way, and since the fruits are gaining solid speed, on impact they burst with a crash and the pulp with seeds scatters around the area. This is the main goal of their journey – to spread the seeds as far as possible.

Since even wild watermelons have very juicy flesh, people began to cultivate them. The ancient Egyptians were the first to grow them. Then watermelons came to Asia, including them actively grown on the territory of modern Astrakhan.

In Our Country, watermelons became known from the middle of the 1860th century – Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered them to be delivered to the royal court. And Peter I, being in the Caspian, was so delighted with these fruits that he planned to grow them near Moscow. For the sake of this venture, “watermelon craftsmen”, seeds and even local soil were ordered from Astrakhan, but watermelons did not want to grow in the north. And only in 1 they managed to tame them – the gardener Efim Grachev managed to breed early-ripening watermelons, which gave a harvest before the onset of frost. However, watermelons appeared in peasant farmsteads only in the XNUMXth century (XNUMX).

Growing watermelons

At the moment, the number of varieties in the world is approaching 1500. Some have a yellow crust, yellow and even white flesh, but they have remained thermophilic. It is this feature that limits their distribution throughout Our Country – only early varieties can be grown in cool regions, and even those are more often successful only in greenhouses. Not bad they grow to the line St. Petersburg – Yaroslavl – Kirov – Perm – Yekaterinburg. But there is evidence that they can be grown in heated greenhouses even in Yakutsk.

And watermelons are very photophilous – they will not give a harvest in the shade. Therefore, the site for them must be chosen sunny, open, well warmed up. During the day, the air temperature should be in the range of 20 – 25 ° C, or even all 30 ° C. And at night, do not fall below 18 ° C (2). At lower temperatures, watermelons stop growing, and at -1 ° C(3) perish.

And finally, the area for watermelons should be dry – they do not tolerate a high level of groundwater and stagnant moisture. They also do not like frequent precipitation, so in rainy regions they definitely need to be grown in greenhouses, where it will be not only warm, but also dry.

Any crops are suitable as predecessors for watermelons, with the exception of pumpkins (cucumbers, zucchini, squash, watermelons, melons, pumpkins). Experiments conducted in the Volgograd region showed that watermelons that were grown after watermelons, the yield drops by 59 – 63%(four). They must be returned to their original site after 4 years.

Planting watermelons

In the southern regions, in the Middle and Lower Volga regions, watermelons ripen well in open ground – there they can be sown with seeds immediately in the garden after May 25. Seeding depth – 4 – 5 cm. Seeding scheme when growing in spreading: between rows – 150 cm, in a row – 70 cm.

In more northern regions, watermelons, even early ones, must be grown through seedlings. In this case, the seeds are sown at the end of April immediately in separate cups with a diameter of 11 cm. Seedlings are planted in the ground after 25-30 days, that is, in the second half of May. Since watermelons are grown on a support in greenhouses, the planting pattern is used more dense than in open ground: between rows – 110 cm, in a row – 55 cm.

Care of watermelons in the open field

Watermelons are very unpretentious, so care for them will not be difficult. But it is important to take into account the nuances of cultivation – otherwise there will be no harvest.

Watering. Plants need it only during the first month of life and not more than once a week. Further watermelons can not be watered, well, except that with a very strong and prolonged drought. And you certainly don’t need to water them after the ovaries form – with high soil and air humidity, the fruits grow watery, tasteless, or even begin to rot.

Feeding. Before sowing or planting in the soil per 1 sq. m useful to make:

urea – 10 g (1 tablespoon);
double superphosphate – 10 g (2 teaspoons);
potassium sulfate – 10 g (2 teaspoons).

Fertilizers should be evenly scattered over the site and dug onto a shovel bayonet.

Watermelons do not need top dressing during the summer. Nitrogen fertilizers are especially dangerous for them – fruits easily accumulate nitrates.

Formation. It is important when growing in a cool climate and in greenhouses – in a short summer, watermelons do not have time to give out their full potential, so no more than 4 – 5 fruits should be left on the plant. All the lashes above need to be pinched so that the forces are spent on ripening the crop, and not on growth.

In the southern regions, watermelons do not need to be formed.

And one more thing: in a rainy summer, watermelons often begin to rot in the place where they come into contact with the soil. Therefore, planks should be placed under the fruits.

Harvesting watermelons

Watermelons, unlike melons, do not ripen after harvesting, so you need to pluck them when they are fully ripe. It is easy to identify it by the dried “tail” – the stalk, with which the fruit is attached to the lash.

The ripeness of a watermelon can also be determined by the sound – in mature fruits it is deaf.

It is necessary to harvest in warm, dry weather.

Watermelon storage rules

Ripe, but not overripe watermelons should be selected for storage – the “tail” of such has just dried up. Before being sent to storage, it is useful to keep them in a dry room for a couple of days. Spread out on top of the scrap – during this time their crust is slightly dehydrated and becomes strong.

It is better to store watermelons at a temperature of 5 ° C and a humidity of 80 – 85%, that is, in a cellar or in a refrigerator. In such conditions, they can lie up to 3 months.

Watermelons of late varieties are best stored – they have a thick peel and dense pulp. Early maturing lie very little.